took a nice trip in the summer, bike performed really well, speedo cable came off the speedometer, and my brakes wore out, other than that man i loved it. This is around harrison lake and lilloet river in british columbia

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My daughter owns a CRF250L and I have a 2009 XT250. Both are used for mainly dirt, occational street. Both are basically stock. The CRF is quieter. If you are like seeing animals on forest service roads, its better. The biggest complaint I have on the CRF is the lack of folding rear brake and shift levers. They bend every time the bike goes over. I don't ride it that much, but whenever my daughter goes in the dirt and drops it I have to bend it out so we can get it home and then take it off and straighten it in a vice. The XT has folding levers and there is no issues when the bike goes over.

I just bought my '08 CRF230L a few weeks ago. I've been riding for ~44 years during which I covered 300,000+ miles with ~7500 miles of extremely off-road true wilderness riding. I've done two solo rides to Alaska, once on my K1200LT, then again on my R1200GS. On the second trip I made side excursions to the Arctic Circle and into the Northwest Territories.The GS is definitely the perfect bike for that kind of long distance do-anything, go-anywhere riding, but I bought the Honda with the intention of doing more closer-to-home trail riding in West Virginia and Southern Ohio. I think the CRF230L is an ideal size & weight for even the well experienced trail rider. Any perceived lack of power is easily made up for by the Honda 6-speed transmission.

Short stuff bought her NOS 2008 230L so she could maintain her 2 wheel skills. Shortly after bringing it home, we noticed the bike was boggy and gutless at times. The bike was in the dealers for 2 months while they " diagnosed" our imaginary problem. Honda Corp. determined the "environmentally responsible low emissions" gas cap may be not allowing enough air into the tank as the gas was consumed. The gas cap was changed out ( back ordered 4 weeks) and we brought it home yesterday. It starts immediately now, I just spent 1/2 hour ripping around our trails and it didn't act up once.
Not sure if this is a common problem or not but thought I would share it and hopefully the solution.

Short stuff bought her NOS 2008 230L so she could maintain her 2 wheel skills. Shortly after bringing it home, we noticed the bike was boggy and gutless at times. The bike was in the dealers for 2 months while they " diagnosed" our imaginary problem. Honda Corp. determined the "environmentally responsible low emissions" gas cap may be not allowing enough air into the tank as the gas was consumed. The gas cap was changed out ( back ordered 4 weeks) and we brought it home yesterday. It starts immediately now, I just spent 1/2 hour ripping around our trails and it didn't act up once.
Not sure if this is a common problem or not but thought I would share it and hopefully the solution.

grump

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Thanks grumpybear. I remember reading somewhere else where somebody's 230l was bogging bad, and it turned out their gas cap hose was twisted closed.

So I've had trouble with my key a couple of times. It was really rough getting in and out, but now that it is more used not so much a problem. However when it is cold like below 30 cold I have had several problems. Taking a lighter to the key to get it to start kind of thing, and last night I drove home when it was 23 degrees. When I got home I could not turn the key to off position, then got it to turn, but had to wait till the morning to pull it out. This is the first bike I've owned in the north country and was just wondering if this is a Honda,a 230L, or just a cold bike thing. Not something I really wooried about , just wondering.

So I've had trouble with my key a couple of times. It was really rough getting in and out, but now that it is more used not so much a problem. However when it is cold like below 30 cold I have had several problems. Taking a lighter to the key to get it to start kind of thing, and last night I drove home when it was 23 degrees. When I got home I could not turn the key to off position, then got it to turn, but had to wait till the morning to pull it out. This is the first bike I've owned in the north country and was just wondering if this is a Honda,a 230L, or just a cold bike thing. Not something I really wooried about , just wondering.

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Probably some water/ice in the lock cylinder. A little (just a LITTLE) WD-40 wiped on the key often does the trick. Or you can use the spray lock de-icer -- just be sure that it's approved for use on ignition locks.

I put on a SunStar 12T sprocket today, and I'm happy with the results. There is a little hill climb near my job that I run up regularly. With the new sprocket there was a noticeable difference. Starting in second gear I could blast up the hill and not run out of power. On another hillclimb with roots, rocks and mud if I didn't ,make it first shot I would have to turn back. Now I was able to rock and bump the throttle and ride on.
On the flats third gear has come into it's own. I can cruise at 30, and with a little twist I'm at 50. I haven't ridden much street yet but I rarely go much above 60 anyways. At 60 in sixth gear it's not strung completely out, and has better throttle response.
There is more noise from the chain, and I have heard that the chain will wear out faster. I beleive this because I would usually be an advocate of changing both sprockets. Since I don't want a larger rear sprocket ( one more thing to bash a rock ), and I'm not ready to buy a new chain and sprockets this will do for now. If the chain wears out really fast I will upgrade.
For anyone who doesn't run regularly over 65 I think this is an inexpensive and worthy upgrade. As I run it I while keep everyone updated, and if anybody has any experience this let me know.

I ran a 12t for a while. That noise is the chain on the the plastic guide-thing just before the counter-sprocket. I've since put a 45 rear and ideally would switch between a 13 and 14 counter... I use a 104 link chain to accommodate the larger rear sprocket.

I've found that the 13/45 combo is versatile enough to stay on all at the time. It crawls in first gear, and tops out at 75 in sixth--and due to the higher revolutions, 6th gear is less prone to wind and incline dampening.

I just bought a leftover 09 for my GF, and the dealer forgot to send us home with an owner's manual (he said it was under the seat). A couple questions if you all don't mind?

OM call for 87 octane fuel, or something higher?

do these bikes come with a tool kit?

speaking of tool kits, does the key actually lock / unlock the tool box on the left side (seems like the key doesn't even slide in all the way and I've noticed a screwdriver works just as well to turn the "lock"). On the other hand, my ignition key doesn't seem to slide all the way into the helmut lock, but a screwdriver doesn't seem to "unlock" it but the ignition key does.

and to check oil level, I'm assuming the bike should be warmed up, held upright and the dipstick placed in the filler hole, but NOT screwed in?

I should have the manual by next week, but we're up in NC on vaca now and plan to be riding every day. Appreciate any info until then!